In less than a week, it will be 2014, and for some drivers, the start of the new year can’t come soon enough. Many need to put 2013 behind them. Others just need 2014 to take the green flag.

There are several drivers that are at a career crossroads or at least can look at 2014 as a season that will determine their future in racing.

Here’s a look at 10 drivers who face a season that could significantly define their career.

1. Tony Stewart

Carl Edwards (AP Photo)

Stewart is coming off the worst injury of his career as he recovers from a broken right tibia and fibula suffered in an Aug. 5 sprint-car wreck.

While he talks about making a full recovery, there will be little convincing fans and his team until they see him perform.

As great a driver as Stewart is, if he doesn’t return to form at some point in 2014, there will be questions on whether he has lost a bit of his edge that he had before the accident.

2. Carl Edwards

Is Carl Edwards a legitimate year-in, year-out title contender? Or is he a driver who will occasionally challenge for the title?

It was hard to figure out which one Edwards was in 2013. He actually finished with the most points of any driver in the regular season, which he capped with a victory (his second of 2013) at Richmond International Raceway.

But he was 13th in the final 2013 standings and has finished outside the top 10 in three of the last five years. He only has five wins in the last five years.

Edwards last signed a contract extension with Roush Fenway Racing in 2011 for a “multiyear” deal, so there likely are options or renewal talks that would be expected over the next couple of seasons. How he performs could determine how those talks go and whether he stays loyal to Jack Roush.

3. Martin Truex Jr.

Truex was in some ways the innocent victim of the Michael Waltrip Racing race-manipulation scandal at Richmond as his teammates spun and gave up spots that helped him make the Chase. The fallout resulted in MWR losing sponsor NAPA for Truex, and Truex signing with Furniture Row Racing.

While Furniture Row has shown patience with drivers, it now has had the taste of some success with Kurt Busch’s 10th-place finish in the standings in 2013. Truex needs to make the Chase to show he’s one of the top talents, and the team needs him to make the Chase so the crew members know it wasn’t all just Kurt Busch in 2013.

4. Danica Patrick

While Patrick has enough corporate backing that she doesn’t need to win to keep her job, she does need to show improvement in 2014 or public perception that she will never be a Chase contender could start to become insurmountable.

Patrick was 27th in the standings in her rookie season, which was expected to be a struggle. She doesn’t even need to finish top-20 to prove she has potential, just a top-25 finish with more top-10s and top-20s than the one she had in 2013 will be good enough. She just needs to be, for lack of a better term, less out to lunch in 2014.

5. Kyle Busch

Busch enjoyed his best season-ending points finish in 2013 as he placed fourth overall. For him, this was a big step in not just packing it in mentally when things have gone sour early in the Chase.

If Busch can repeat a top-five finish in points, it will solidify him as a contender with the ability — mentally — to win the championship.

If he slides outside the top five, he will continue to be judged as a driver with a wealth of talent but one who might not be able to overcome adversity to win a championship.

6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Earnhardt had a great season in some ways in 2013 as he finished in the top five in the standings, his best finish in the points in seven years. His 22 top 10s were also a career high, and he had more than one pole for the first time in 11 years.

But is he going to be a top-10 driver or a winning driver? A winless driver in 2013 and a driver with just two wins in the last seven years, Earnhardt needs to get over the hump of great and return to the elite.

7. Kurt Busch

Gene Haas went out on a limb to hire and sponsor Busch, as he pretty much ordered Tony Stewart to start a fourth team for the organization for highly talented driver. Haas is sponsoring Busch, who believes this could be the organization that can return him to atop the Cup standings, where he was in 2004.

For Busch, this will be the first time in three years that he is part of a multicar organization, where he is not the sole focus.

He needs to show that he is ready for that again. He has always been known as a good teammate with a strong knowledge of cars to make constructive suggestions in team debriefs, but he has gotten frustrated at the slowness it takes to make changes in the cars at organizations with multiple drivers.

8. AJ Allmendinger

Allmendinger is getting a chance that few could have envisioned 18 months ago. A driver with 191 starts and no wins plus a substance-abuse violation on his resume, Allmendinger was convincing enough in a tryout with JTG Daugherty Racing to earn another full-time ride.

He is going to be asked to get JTG Daugherty Racing back in the top 20. But Allmendinger likely won’t be patient.

He has said he wouldn’t let racing rule his life as it had in the past. This will be a test for him to follow through with that vow.

9. Aric Almirola

Almirola had a solid season in 2013 with Richard Petty Motorsports, as he was 12th in the standings after 13 races.

But with a couple of accidents and discouraging performances in the summer, he fell out of Chase contention and eventually was 18th overall. That still wasn’t bad for a driver just in his second career full-time Cup season. Almirola, who will have a new crew chief in 2014 with Trent Owens taking over, needs to win a race and/or be in solid contention for a Chase spot to show that he is a Chase-contending driver and not just a top-20 driver.

10. Marcos Ambrose

Ambrose faces a similar situation as Almirola except he is entering his sixth full season of Cup racing. He was 22nd in the standings last year with no top fives and just six top 10s, his fewest number of top 10s in the last three years.

There always has been the feeling that if Ambrose can’t vie for wins, he will eventually want to return to Australia. He needs to vie for those wins — and not just on road courses — in 2014 or he could be moving back home by this time next year.